The Washington Redskins’ 19-17 win over the Tennessee Titans yesterday was desperately needed but difficult to watch at times. On any given play, fans saw brilliant design and execution or baffling mistakes and lack of discipline. It was like seeing a live version of the book Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. For anyone who doesn’t remember, Dr. Jekyll is the main character’s good friend. Mr. Hyde is his evil alter ego.
For example:
Hyde play: The game began with an Alfred Morris run and, even though the play went to the left behind Pro Bowl tackle Trent Williams, right tackle Tyler Polumbus appeared to jump late off the line and then failed to maintain his block. The running back gained only a yard.
Jekyll play: Conversely, on the very next play, backup-but-at-the-time-starting quarterback Kirk Cousins lofted a nice pass 20 yards to tight end Niles Paul who, thanks to great balance (getting past safety George Wilson) and a great stiff-arm (holding off cornerback Jason McCourty), managed to gain an additional 50 yards on the play before finally being brought down by linebacker Wesley Woodyard at the Tennessee 29-yard-line. Cousins was actually under some pressure from Titans’ linebacker Derrick Morgan during the play but he kept his composure and got the pass off. Paul (who always plays in beast mode) executed the catch and yards after it beautifully.
Hyde play: On the very next play, the Redskins showed a three-receiver set with wide outs DeSean Jackson and Andre Roberts lined up on the left and Pierre Garçon to the right. After the snap — with Cousins under center — left guard Shawn Lauvao loses his block on Tennessee nose tackle Sammie Hill and Morris gets tackled for a loss of three yards.
Jekyll play: Immediately afterward, Cousins handed off to Morris again and, at the line of scrimmage, running back Roy Helu, Jr. moved through the line to block linebacker Avery Williamson, right guard Chris Chester, double-teaming defensive tackle Jurrell Casey with Polumbus, moved up to the next level and blocked Morgan while Garçon blocked cornerback Blidi Wreh-Wilson. Roberts didn’t exactly block defensive back Marqueston Huff but he did slow him down and all of this freed Morris up to gain eight yards.
Unfortunately, there were several Mr. Hyde sightings during the game as a whole.
At the end of the aforementioned play, Morris coughed up the ball. Fortunately, he was ruled down by contact and Washington was able to continue the drive but these players have to take care of the ball better.
The Redskins had seven penalties in the game for 50 yards (the Titans had 11 penalties for 96 yards) and frequent penalties can indicate a lack of discipline or focus or both. There was a delay-of-game penalty 10 minutes into the first quarter which may have been a result of the extra second or two that it takes head coach Jay Gruden to call in the play to offensive coordinator Sean McVay. Still, six weeks into the season, one has to wonder how that can happen. Immediately following that, the quarterback was sacked. He fumbled — and lost —the ball.
The off-sides penalty that rookie Trent Murphy incurred during a Tennessee punt to Washington after the defense had held them to a three-and-out was awful and was the 15th special teams penalty of the season. It prolonged the drive for the Titans although the defense ultimately kept them from scoring on that possession.
In the third quarter there was an illegal contact penalty by rookie cornerback Bashaud Breeland that nullified a nice sack on Titans’ quarterback for a seven-yard loss by linebacker Ryan Kerrigan.
Of course there is the turnover by Cousins which came late in the second quarter and was inevitable since he was staring down Roberts during the play.
Even more Mr. Hyde-ness of the Redskins’ defense was in making the Titans’ quarterback Charlie Whitehurst look like a mobile quarterback at times, allowing him to scramble a few times at will.
On Tennessee’s fourth quarter go-ahead touchdown, Redskins’ cornerback E.J. Biggers simply got beaten by Titans’ wide out Derek Hagan. The receiver got away from Biggers early in the play and the defensive back never got close. Earlier in that series, Titans’ running back Bishop Sankey went up the middle for a first down and got the yards because linebacker Brian Orakpo missed a tackle.
There were some really dynamite plays called and executed during this game however and many of them illustrate how much potential the Redskins have. Niles Paul described the offense as “potent and versatile.” That’s certainly accurate — at times. That is the name of the game in football though, isn’t it? To execute the plays as they are called?
On the first play of Washington’s last drive of the first quarter, Cousins handed the ball off to Morris and every person involved executed their assignments beautifully. Tight end Logan Paulson held a block on Titans defensive lineman DaQuan Jones as Morris moved up and through the line of scrimmage just as fullback Darrel Young took out Woodyard to make room. The play resulted in Morris getting 14 yards.
There were two nice passes by Cousins in the second quarter, one to Jackson for 37 yards and a subsequent pass to tight end Jordan Reed for 22 yards.
On the second play of the Redskins’ first series in the second half (after backup-backup quarterback Colt McCoy came in) Garçon caught that short pass at the Washington 30-yard-line and turned it into 70-yard gain and a touchdown by simply blowing by the Titans’ Wilson (Blidi Wreh) and safety Michael Griffin. Later in that quarter, Young caught a couple of passes for large gains (14 and 10 yards respectively).
The special teams had a decent day compared to some their earlier games. Late in the second half, Dexter McCluster muffed a punt return and Niles Paul recovered the resulting fumble. While they didn’t force it, it was good that Paul was on the ball enough to recover it. Unfortunately, it was the end of the half so the offense could not do anything with it. There were the obvious field goals by kicker Kai Forbath and it was good to see no huge special teams problems during the game other than not getting anything from Roberts in returns.
The defense had a few Dr. Jekyll-like plays. Third-year defensive Frank Kearse sacked Whitehurst in the second quarter and immediately following that play, Breeland intercepted him. This just goes to show that heads up plays can fire up a squad.
In the Titans’ first series of the second half, the Redskins’ defense held them to a three-and-out and it was the ensuing possession in which McCoy threw that short pass to Garçon and the wide out scored after taking it 70 yards.
As mentioned earlier, Kerrigan blew right by Titans’ fullback Jackie Battle for the Whitehurst sack in the third quarter although it was nullified by the Breeland penalty.
There was another series of Tennessee’s in which the Redskins’ defense made them punt after three downs in the fourth quarter. The Titans helped by incurring an Illegal-Use-of-the-Hands penalty on first down but the Redskins’ run defense did keep Tennessee from getting a first down which might have resulted in them scoring again and putting the game almost out of reach since it was 17 – 16 Titans at that point. Had the Titans scored a touchdown, 24-16 would have required a touchdown and two-point conversion by the Redskins to win.
The back-and-forth good play/bad play went on with regularity throughout the game. While one might say, “That’s football,” it’s not. Good football teams make far fewer mistakes in football games and good football teams beat bad ones convincingly for the most part. Rather like Washington did to the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week Two when they beat them 41-10.
Penalties, turnovers and a lack of execution combined with just the opposite — discipline, ball protection and execution are symptoms of a bigger problem within this team. There is some amazing talent on it, to be sure. But there’s something keeping the Redskins from being consistently good. The flashes of brilliance are frustrating. One almost wishes they weren’t there because then the losses would not be quite so painful for Redskins fans.
You’ve got to play with that killer instinct, man. You’ve got to hate that guy across from you. Then after the game is over, tell him what a nice guy he is. Shake his hand. Especially if you win.
– Chuck Bednarik
Hail.